TV deprivation begins for many Astros fans

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At high noon Thursday CST, the Astros play the Yankees in the team’s first exhibition game on its new television partner, Comcast SportsNet Houston.

And with that, CSN Houston’s carriage issues enter a new era that may not be more intense for fans but certainly will be more widespread in its impact.

Unlike the Rockets’ broadcast territory, which is limited under NBA rules, Astros games can be seen on CSN Houston across a five-state area … except in areas where they’re not available, which at the moment is most of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas and New Mexico.

That means the clock is ticking toward opening day not only for customers of national providers like DirecTV, Dish Network and AT&T U-verse but for customers of Time Warner, Suddenlink, Cable One and other cable systems from Albuquerque to New Orleans and from Laredo to Tulsa that have had access to Astros games for decades.

“The urgency to get distribution has been the same for the last year,” said Matt Hutchings, CSN Houston’s president. “What this does is elevate the energy and, we hope, demand for the channel.

“The Astros have always had a tremendous following across the five-state area, and the urgency is now with the providers and elevates the level of communications, I am certain, from their customers.”

Money remains the issue for companies that service about 60 percent of Houston’s 2.2 million TV households that don’t carry CSN Houston and, now, cable systems across five states.

Providers are unwilling to pay CSN Houston’s monthly subscriber fee, estimated to be an average of $3.40 per month (network officials refuse to confirm that), even though customers will not get Astros games they have seen for years on Fox Sports Southwest.

“We want a fair market deal,” Hutchings said. “We felt when we signed that we were asking a fair rate for a network with two pro teams, and now we’ve added the Dynamo.”

Good news, Padres fans
As Dish Network continues to negotiate with CSN Houston, it announced it has picked up Fox Sports San Diego, which airs Padres games. DirecTV also announced it would pick up FS San Diego’s full lineup.

“No disrespect intended to Fox and the Padres, but why would providers launch a network with essentially one pro team in a smaller geographic location and not launch this network?” Hutchings said, adding, “They are not valuing the local fan base.”

Spokespeople for DirecTV, Dish Network and Suddenlink had no comment on negotiations. A U-verse spokesman said: “Customers aren’t getting anything materially new or different. … The programming is largely the same team games that were previously available on other channels we already carry.”

Carriage issues have already had financial consequences for the network partners — the Rockets, Astros and NBC Sports Group. Based on the $3.40 monthly estimated average carriage fee and estimates by industry analysis firm SNL Kagan that DirecTV, Dish Network and AT&T U-verse have about 970,000 customers in the 20-county Houston area, the CSN Houston partners have missed out on $16.5 million in potential revenue since the channel launched in October 2012.

Even at $2.88, which SNL Kagan says is the median point for RSN subscriber fees, potential lost revenue from those three carriers alone would total about $14 million.

Without full distribution, Nielsen ratings for Rockets games on CSN Houston are tied for next-to-last in the NBA with an average audience of 0.9 percent and 20,200 households, according to Sports Business Journal. That’s down 63 percent from the 2010-11 season, the largest drop in the NBA, and consistent with the reduced availability.

Rockets CEO Tad Brown said the addition of Astros and Dynamo games adds “critical mass” to the network’s offerings and expands the geographic area where fans will not have access to daily games.

Discussions ongoing
“There’s been intensity across the entire negotiating period,” Brown said. “We want to get something done immediately. We’ve been in constant conversations, we continue to have constant conversations, and it’s time to get something done.”

Astros president George Postolos said team officials are excited about the team’s debut on CSN Houston and determined to keep negotiating for what he feels is a fair market rate for the network.

“It has to be right for the long term,” he said. “We need to get a fair market rate.”

The Astros’ departure from FS Southwest, which is available in 9 million households and, according to SNL Kagan, had $303 million in revenue in 2012, clears the way for FSS to air a full slate of Texas Rangers games in Houston as the teams compete in the American League West and vie for attention across the Astros’ traditional fan strongholds in Central and South Texas.

As he has done in the past, Hutchings acknowledged that fans are inconvenienced by the inability to cut carriage deals.

“It’s not fun for the fans, for the teams or for us,” he said. “We understand that people are angry and confused and upset, and we are trying to get the facts to them and to get these deals done as fast as possible.”